


A very Hannigram AU-gust

by Rising_Phoenix



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: 500 Words Challenge, AU-gust challenge, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Angels & Demons, Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Farm/Ranch, Alternate Universe - Hospital, Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, August Writing Challenge, Ficlets, M/M, Pirates, prompt fills
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:35:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 5,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25656007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rising_Phoenix/pseuds/Rising_Phoenix
Summary: So, I'm doing it and gonna post a prompt fill throughout August.All these ficlets are Hannigram but not connected to each other.
Relationships: Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter
Comments: 135
Kudos: 123
Collections: AUgust 2020





	1. Fantasy AU

**Author's Note:**

> FANTASY AU - Hannibal is a centaur king, Will a fae prince.

Hannibal looked at the prince and raised his brow in a way that left no doubt that he was mocking the fae.

“And you are?” He asked, well aware who was standing in front of him, sea-blue eyes proud and shining in a confidence that was only betrayed by the shiver in his wings.

“Prince William, sire,” the smaller, chubby fae standing next to the prince said, gasping clearly affronted by his king not knowing who the prince was.

Hannibal nodded and circled the prince, arms crossed and assessing the lithe figure of the young man, his hooves clicking on the stone floor.

“Will,” Hannibal said, leaning closer and taking a whiff of the clean, fresh scent of the fae prince. “It is a pleasure to see you again.”

Will turned and looked right into the golden-brown eyes of the king who had led his troops into a fierce, into a bloody battle against his own people, and had won. Not only the brutal war, but also the price that was standing now right in front of him. Yes, they had met before and he had almost allowed the vile, four-legged creature to mount him and make him his, but they had been enemies and there had not been a way to be with him, not a chance to dream of a world where what he had started to feel for the king during the negotiations they had taken part in would have a chance to survive.

“I don’t recall ever having met you before, sire,” Will said, arrogance in his tone, now avoiding to look at the centaur, lowering his head to look at the floor.

A hand touched his chin, raising his head to look again at him. Will though shifted his eyes to the side, not wanting to see that dominant and breathtaking smile on the other’s lips.

“Not fond of eye contact,” Hannibal whispered, leaning so close that his breath caressed Will’s neck. “I want you to look at me tonight when I make you mine.”

A shiver went down Will’s spine, his wings again shivering as if under a breeze, and he looked up, seeing behind Hannibal a young centaur female standing, beautiful and with long black hair, recognizing the king’s daughter, and next to her Hannibal’s trusted friend and general Jack, a proud black steed. These were the people he would now see every day. Every day for the rest of his life.

“Do you accept my terms?” Hannibal asked, but Will knew that he would not be allowed to decline, the safety of his people depended on his willingness to submit to the enemy’s king.

“I do,” Will said, voice only a whisper.

“I did not hear you,” Hannibal demanded, smiling.

“I said, I do,” Will replied, looking up and now looked again into the centaur’s eyes, firm and not leaving a doubt that he understood what being married to the king meant, that he was ready to be made a king himself.


	2. College AU

“...and then he had the guts to tell me that he would have a word with my father if I continued! My father! If the fucking professor tells him about me partying, he will cut me off and then it’s bye-bye fun in Italy!”

Will raised a brow and leaned against the tree he had been sitting in front of, reading, and no longer pretended to not overhear the conversation of the two American students. He had only arrived this morning, a week earlier than originally planned, and had taken a look around campus, surprised how many American students he had met there, but he could not blame them for the beauty of Florence making it easy to decide for this college.

“Maybe you should talk to him?”

“Talk to him? Are you kidding? He won’t even listen to reason, and he’s such a pretentious asshole, you won’t believe it,” the brunet continued, now noticing Will and smiled at him while pulling her hair behind an ear. “Hey, come stai?”

Will chuckled.

“Bene,” he replied. “But my Italian is a little rusty.”

“Ah,” she laughed, now so obviously flirting with him that he found it amusing. “Problems with one of the professors.”

“He is hot though,” her friend said.

“If you have a daddy kink, maybe.”

Will wanted to roll his eyes.

“Oh God,” she then hissed. “There’s the asshole who wants me deregistered.”

Will turned his head and saw a handsome man leaving the building, accompanied by a gorgeous blonde woman who was looking up to him, laughing at the frown on the man’s face while he was talking to her. He was tall, long legs, broad shoulders and a narrow waist from what Will could see despite the beige suit he was wearing, underneath a white shirt, the top buttons open. Brownish hair was neatly combed, not a strand out of place, the skin mouthwateringly tanned.

“I need to come up with something to convince him to not report me,” she then said. “Maybe if I...”

Her friend laughed.

“Others have tried that. Boys and girls. He never even reacted to advances and instead mentioned that they could be reported for sexual harassment.”

Will laughed.

“What’s so funny?”

“You’re telling me, students have thrown themselves at him and he’s just like...sorry, not interested?”

“Exactly!”

Will nodded and continued to look at the professor the girls were both looking at, tilting his head a little to the side and found himself smiling.

“What? You think you could do better?” The first girl asked him.

Again, he raised a brow and then got up.

“Excuse me, ladies,” he said and started to approach the professor and the blonde woman, who saw him first with a questioning look on her face before the professor turned and looked at the young man, who got into his personal space, leaning into an embrace and pressed a kiss to his lips, smiling.

“You’re a week early, Will,” Hannibal said.

“Anything for my husband.”


	3. Soulmates AU

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This takes place during Digestivo but diverges from canon from the moment Will wakes up in his house.  
> Soulmates/soulmarks are rare in this world, not everyone has one, and those who have one often have no hope in finding their soulmate.

Will woke up with a wrecking headache like he had never had one before, and when he looked around, he found himself in his bed, in his house. He frowned. The last thing he remembered was being on Verger’s pig farm. He remembered Alana and him talking. Hannibal. He remembered Hannibal.

He sat up, ready to get out of the bed and go searching for the other man, but that moment the door opened and Hannibal came into the room, closing the door and making a few steps to finally pick up his notebook and sit down on the armchair next to Will’s bed. Will scooted further up, until he leaned against the window behind the bed, looking at Hannibal.

“Do we talk about teacups and time?” Hannibal asked, making Will frown even more.

“Why don’t we talk about what happened?” Will said, surprising Hannibal with those words. Obviously he had expected something else.

“If that is what you want,” Hannibal replied.

Will pulled a leg up, rubbing his ankle and looked right into Hannibal’s eyes, finding uncertainty there.

“Between you and me, there will never be a winner,” Will continued. “Does that make us equals?”

The hint of a smile flicked over Hannibal’s lips.

“It is all I ever wanted for us,” he gave back. “To see you as my equal, see you flourish and rise above yourself.”

Will nodded.

“Verger?” Will asked.

“Is dead,” Hannibal gave the honest answer.

“I can’t say that I will mourn his death,” he said. “Alana told me that he had you branded with his crest.”

Hannibal shifted a little uneasy in the chair, having almost forgotten the stinging pain he still felt.

“He has,” he then said.

“Alana said he erased your soulmark with it,” Will said.

Hannibal raised his brows.

“I never believed in soulmarks,” Hannibal said. “Finding someone who is the one meant for you by destiny, the perfect companion, it is implausible.”

“Yet you had one,” Will remarked. “What was it like?”

“The head of a stag,” Hannibal said, remembering how his mark had formed when he had been a teenager, the blood-red mark that had told him that one day he was to meet someone who wore the same mark somewhere on their body. He had to twist and turn to see it himself in a mirror, had admired its beauty, and sometimes, he had dared to dream of meeting one day that one person, that one soul that was meant for him.

Will seemed to be deep in thought for a moment.

Then he sat further up and moved to sit at the edge of the bed and Hannibal noticed how Will’s eyes were shining with wetness.

Without a word, Will stood up, opened his pants and pushed them down his hips.

At first, Hannibal looked up at Will in confusion, but then he looked down, looked at Will’s toned thigh, and stopped breathing.

The mark he wore there was blood red. The head of a stag.


	4. Angels & Demons AU

Will was panting heavily, his whole body covered in the blood of the man who had called himself the Great Red Dragon, a murdered, torturer, someone who was not supposed to be called a human being, and who was now nothing but a lifeless shell, a soulless shell.

When he looked up, he saw Hannibal panting at equally at the other side of the corpse that was lying between them, the handsome face flecked with drops of blood.

He wanted to smirk, to mock the other, but instead, he only was able to stare into those dark eyes he had dreamt of in many night, forbidden dreams of desire and lust. Craving something he would never be able to experience in the arms of the only being he had ever truly desired.

“Was it worth it?” He asked, surprised at how his voice was not much more than a hoarse whisper.

Still panting, Hannibal stared at him.

“Worth it?” He asked, his voice mirroring Will’s. “I don’t understand.”

Will raised to his feet and made a step over the dead man, kicking his side with one foot.

“You killed,” Will said.

“That I did,” Hannibal confirmed. “It was...necessary.”

Now Will laughed openly.

“Necessary,” he repeated. “We killed him together.”

“A murderer of the innocent,” came the reply. “He...I could not allow him to go on like this, there was no hope for his salvation.”

Another step, and Will was standing close to him, his hand touching the other’s, carefully, only the hint of skin contact. After such a long time.

“What now?” Will asked, eyes on the floor, not daring to look at Hannibal, unable to anticipate what would come next for him, for them.

“I don’t know. There is no place for me to go now.”

When Will looked at him, he saw how Hannibal was looking at him, questioning and insecure.

“But there is,” Will said. “There will always be a place for you as long as there is life in me.”

Hannibal held eye contact.

“What are you saying?”

“Come home with me,” Will said. “You must know what I feel for you, what I always felt for you. I saw your eyes when they took my wings, I know that you feel something for me too. So, come home with me.”

“Home?”

Will shrugged.

“Does having a home with me sound so strange to you? We once lived together, when I was still...”

Hannibal nodded.

“There is no way for me to return now,” he said. “And I can’t bring myself to regret what I have done.”

“Because it was the right thing to do.”

“We killed...”

“Hannibal,” Will said. “Come home.”

For long seconds, Hannibal looked into the eyes of the demon who had once been an angel like himself. Too proud. Too curious.

Then, he nodded again and took Will’s hand into his.

“An angel and a demon in love,” Will grinned. “That has always sounded like a great idea to me.”


	5. Post Apocalypse AU

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mention of mpreg
> 
> This is actually part of what once was an OC idea I had, but this has turned suddenly into Hanngiram in a post-apocalyptic world which I can imagine writing more about!!!

Will was on his knees, blood on his hands. Not his own blood but that of his friend, of the man who had been by his side all his life. He had tried to stop his blood from gushing out of his body, had sobbed hot tears while the light of life had left him. He had not have time to come to terms with the loss, instead he was now kneeling in front of the man who had invaded their home, this little place of safety. They had not been able to protect him, one of the few carriers this world had left, had not been able to hide his existence from the warlord who had every right to claim him.

“Look at me,” the warlord said, and Will, face wet with tears and the never stopping rain that was going down on them, raised his head only slightly to look at the man he had feared as long as he could think back. “I am very pleased to finally meet you.”

Will’s fearful eyes filled with anger.

“I can assure you this pleasure is not mutual,” he hissed.

The man laughed.

“You have a fierce spirit. I like that, and it will be a pleasure to break this spirit,” he replied, taking a few steps towards him and went to Will’s surprised down to his knees, eyes the same level as his.

Will could not avoid looking at him. For one, he did not want to show his fear, his weakness, and he also was fascinated by the strength and power this man radiated, by his golden eyes that seemed to be able to look right into his soul. Were the rumors true and was this warlord, one of the most powerful and most feared men in this world able to read the minds of his opponents? Was he able to read what Will was thinking?

When the warlord smiled, Will gasped and the almost certainty that he knew about Will’s thoughts scared him even more.

The warlord raised his hand, cupping almost carefully Will’s cheek, his thumb caressing his skin.

“You are a curious one,” the warlord said, voice a whisper as if he did not want his companions to hear what he had to say. “More beautiful than I could have dreamed. You were always meant to be mine, Will. You may not agree yet, but I will breed you and you will give me the heir I desire.”

Will swallowed, feeling how his whole body trembled in fear, uncertain of what his future would be like. Would he be disposed when he had served his purpose, like his guards had told him stories of? Would he be used and raped and tortured? But there was something that told him that this feared man was more than the rapist and murdered he had been warned of. There was a softness in his eyes, a promise. Or maybe a warning.

“Say my name,” the man said.

“Hannibal.”


	6. Hospital AU

Like what felt like a thousand times, Hannibal went into room 203 and went, not making a sound to sit at the bed of the patient who was lying there in the bed, just as he had been the last four months, since they had brought him in.

He had never met him before that rainy night when they had brought him in, half-conscious and blue eyes wide in pain and fear. It had been a night with man accidents, bad sight and rainy weather the cause, and the man had been one of the victims they had taken care of in the ER. He had lost consciousness shortly after having been brought in with an ambulance, and so far he had not opened those haunting blue eyes again. He was stable, everything was right, and still the man had not regained consciousness for no apparent reason.

Hannibal took the book he had brought with him one evening to read during his night shift, and instead of reading in silence, he had gone to the man’s room and started reading to him. He doubted that he shared his fondness for Italian poems of the renaissance, but still it made Hannibal feel good when he returned now every day to the room and read to a man he did not know and still felt attracted to in a way that made no sense. This was a stranger, a man who was not missed by any loved ones since nobody came looking for him and he still was registered as a John Doe, and he was the surgeon that had operated on him.

He read for half an hour, then looked at his watch and shut the book to put it away, and looked up with a smile, wanting to say his usual calm goodbyes and tell the man he would be back tomorrow to continue reading, but instead, with the sleeping figure in bed, he was met with blue eyes that looked at him with a hint of a frown.

“You’re awake,” Hannibal stated, not able to avoid the smile that now spread over his head.

The man continued to frown at him.

“I’m Doctor Lecter,” he said. “Can you tell me your name?”

The frown stayed, but no reply came.

Hannibal nodded shortly.

“Can you understand me?”

Now, the man returned the nod.

“That is good,” he said. “You were in an accident, a deer ran into your car and you were brought in. We had to do surgery on you, and you were unconscious for a while.”

“Hannibal?” The man now asked. “What is going on? You were supposed to leave.” His voice was a whisper, his eyes filled with tears. “You killed Abigail, what about Alana and Jack? Are they alive or did you kill them as well. Why not me, Hannibal, why not me?”

Hannibal stared at him.

“I know no people of those names.”

“The rain...,” the man said. “I remember...,” He looked up. “A dream.”


	7. Childhood friend AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yep, I'm totally bending the theme of this prompt...childhood friends, yes, sort of. LOL

Will left the bathroom, closing the buttons to his white shirt and watched with a subtle smile how the other man in the hotel bedroom was doing the same. While Will continued to smile, the other only looked shortly up at him, avoiding eye contact and continued to close his own dress shirt. Will frowned a little at the sudden distance between them after they had spent the past hours on every flat surface in the hotel room taking care that Will would feel him for days to come.

“Is something wrong?” He asked, sitting down at the edge of the bed to tie his shoelaces.

He saw how the other man’s shoulders tensed, his back turned towards him, the head a little lowered.

“Hannibal?”

Now, Hannibal turned around and looked at him. There was something in his eyes that Will could not figure out. A little sadness, a little anger.

“This was a mistake,” Hannibal said, making Will almost gasp and look up at him in surprise. “I’ve known you all your life, this should have never happened.”

Will’s brows went up and he stopped breathing for a moment.

“A mistake,” he repeated. “You didn’t think it was a mistake when you were balls deep inside my ass.”

“There is no need to be crude, Will.”

Will snorted out a laugh.

“There is also no need to dump me after we just had sex for the,” he said and looked at his watch. “Past four hours. I didn’t remember you being this rude.”

“Will...”

“That’s my name, but you know that cause you fucking screamed my name not too long ago. The whole hotel probably knows now my name,” Will sassed.

“Will, I’ve known you since...”

“I was a boy, yes,” Will finished his sentence. “And? I’m not a boy anymore, Hannibal. I’m 23, so tell me what your problem is.”

“You’re my daughter’s childhood friend and you will be her man of honor tomorrow.”

Will took a deep breath.

“I know all that. I would like to know what that has to do with what happened between us, because, seriously, Hannibal, I know I wanted this since I knew I was gay, which was...when I was twelve? And you can’t tell me that you don’t want me, not after what just happened between us.”

“Will,” Hannibal started again, but Will raised a hand, making him stop.

“This is maybe weird for you, and it is weird for me because I’m sure not everyone gets to have sex with the man they had a childhood crush on. And yeah, I am younger, I’m just a student and you are a psychiatrist, but you know what, Hannibal? I am willing to fight for what this is between us because this definitely is something.”

Hannibal looked into the young man’s beautiful eyes and saw determination and strength in them that betrayed the youth of his appearance.

“I’ve been in love with you since forever, and I intend to keep you.”


	8. Superpowers AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is an AU set in a world where a small part of the population has heightened senses or the rare ability to read thoughts...
> 
> Special thanks to [hanniXwill1](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hanniXwill1) who helped me figure out the plot for this one! 💚

Hannibal watched Will take a bite of his breakfast scramble.

“It’s delicious,” Will said after swallowing the first bite. “Thank you.”

Hannibal gave a nod of approval.

“My pleasure,” he returned, still smiling and starting to eat himself.

_I wonder if he would say the same if he knew who this sausage is made of._

Will raised his brows and ate another bite, looking at Hannibal while he was chewing the sausage that the psychiatrist was thinking about.

_He was though indeed a very rude man, turns out his meat was not as spoiled as his mind._

Will grinned into himself.

“I would apologize for my analytical ambush but I know I will soon be apologizing again and you’ll tire of that eventually so I have to consider using apologies sparingly.”

“Like apologizing for presenting me Tupperware with scrambled eggs and human sausage?” Will asked.

Hannibal stared at him, feeling as if his heart stopped beating. He waited for Will grabbing his phone, calling Crawford, calling the police, forcing him to stop him and kill him, and what a waste that would be. Will was a gorgeous man, and he had found himself dreaming things last night about the younger man that probably could be assumed to be inappropriate.

“And what kind of thoughts would that be?”

Hannibal blinked at Will, his mouth gone dry, and found a smiling face and bright eyes that were intrigued, showed interest.

“How...?” He whispered.

Will shrugged with one shoulder, drying his lips with one of the napkins he had brought with him.

“That thought about your tongue in my ass,” Will said, leaning a little forward, still wearing a smirk on his lips. “Why don’t you tell me more about that?”

Hannibal felt heat creep up his neck.

“You...you read my thoughts?”

Will licked his lips, and Hannibal felt a tingling feeling in his groin, and immediately, Will raised his brows and laughed at him.

“Hard to avoid,” he said. “You’re thinking very loudly.”

“I...I have to apologize.”

The younger man shook his head.

“There is no need to apologize, Doctor Lecter,” he said. “I find your thoughts very...entertaining. And a little inspiring.”

Hannibal swallowed.

“If I take the rest of the sausage to Jack,” Will started and Hannibal paled, still certain he would hate it to take Will out, but Will raised a hand. “If I take this to Jack, I assumed we will have found the Cheasepeak Ripper, am I correct? You intrigue me,” Will continued, still smiling. “And that thing with your fingers and my prostate, I’m very much down for that.”

Hannibal could not help but smile himself, intrigued himself, and watched how Will got up and took his t-shirt off, saying “I’m back in a few minutes,” before vanishing with a wink in the bathroom, where he turned the shower on.

He got up and undressed, considering if he should tell Will about his gift too and that he could smell a sickness on him...


	9. Royalty AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A continuation of CHAPTER 1 (Fantasy AU with centaur king Hannibal and fae prince Will)

Will opened his eyes only slowly, feeling sleepy and groggy, and when he moved he felt on his body the certainty that what happened last night had not just been a dream. He closed his eyes and tried to put his thoughts in order.

No. Last night must have been a dream, just his imagination. He remembered that a priest had married him to the king, and then he had been taken to the baths and cleaned, pampered, prepared to spend his wedding night with the beast he now was married to. A centaur. A creature half man and half horse. There had been festivities, there had been delicious food and wine, and there had always been the golden eyes of the king on him as if he wanted to make sure that he knew that he was now his.

But he did not remember having been taken to bed by the beast. He remembered...

He sat up with a frown, noticing that he was wearing again his white shirt and then remembered how he had felt cold at the night air and his king, his husband, had given him the item of clothing, after...

Will looked around, finding the large bed empty but still warm, and when he turned his head towards the large balcony flanking one side of the room, he found the king standing there, his usually braided hair open and cascading in long waves over his back and down his body. His very human body.

“You’re awake,” Hannibal said without turning around, having sensed that the prince, now his consort had woken up.

“I am,” he replied, voice showing his confusion.

Hannibal turned around and looked with a pleased smile at the young prince.

“If you have questions, Will, feel free to ask,” he said softly. “Nothing that is said behind the doors to this room will ever leave it.”

Will blinked while shifting so he could move his wings from their folded position and Hannibal smiled even more at the sight of the shimmering parts of his body.

“You’re...human.”

Hannibal raised a brow.

“Did you think I would bed you in my centaur form?”

The consort pressed his lips together and then nodded slowly, making Hannibal laugh which angered him, feeling like a child.

“Don’t mock me,” he hissed. “I didn’t know that you could...change.”

“Not many do,” Hannibal said. “If I had taken you with my horse cock, dear William, I would have destroyed you. And I appreciate you being in good health and without permanent damage. Maybe one day.”

Will felt heat crawl up his body. The memory hands and lips on his body, on the way he had made him his forever, knowing that a fae prince would never be able to bed anyone but the one they were married to. This beast.

“I love you, I have for a long time,” Hannibal said, as if he could read his thoughts. “And I intend to make you feel the same.”


	10. Pirates AU

Captain Lecter entered his cabin, finding the young man he had ordered there exactly like he had wished to find him. On his knees, bound, the pretty head low and the body moving under his pants.

“Mister Graham, I assume,” he said and made a few slow but determined steps around him, coming to a halt in front of him, where he leaned back against his desk, long legs stretched out and arms crossed.

Now, the young man looked up, large blue eyes directed at the Ripper’s captain whose reputation of being ruthless and bloodthirsty was the content of gossip throughout all of England. Will had heard stories about him having cut off the limbs of his prisoners, had eaten their flesh while they watched, and he shuddered at the thought of being in the hands of such a man. But what he saw was a handsome man with an eyepatch, long hair tied back and a neatly trimmed beard. It may was instinct, but Will batted his long lashes at him and earned something that resembled a smirk.

“I assume you are Captain Lecter? Hannibal the cannibal?” Will asked, making his voice appear huskier than it usually was.

Again, the captain smirked and gave a short nod.

“So, you have heard of me?” He asked. “Tell me, Mister Graham, what has Captain Pazzi told you about me between the sheets while groping you with his bloodstain hands, consuming your innocence?”

Will could now not hold back a smirk himself. So Lecter knew about him, but he surely did not know everything.

“Oh, he told me you were old friends,” he said. “Or should I say enemies? Are you going to rape me, kill me and throw my mutilated body to his feet to show him how much you hate him?”

Hannibal tilted his head to the side, staring into Will’s eyes, intrigued by the young Brit’s words.

“That would be what he and you expect of me, don’t you, Mister Graham?”

Will widened his eyes, forced tears to rise, knowing that he looked like a scared child, appearing younger than he was, knowing the effect his appearance had on man in power, so young, so innocent, so irresistible. Oh, it was so easy to play these men.

“Maybe it would be a lot more entertaining if I would make you mine instead,” Lecter said, voice a low whisper. “What would be more humiliating to a man like Pazzi than losing his lover to his arch nemesis?”

Will blinked a few times. He had not expected this, but it was playing into his own cards. For a moment he imagined himself in Lecter’s bed, claimed by the pirate captain, cherished and worshipped instead of raped and humiliated, like he had experienced far too often at the hands of the man people assumed was his lover but was his torturer.

“I…,” he whispered, head low and then looked up with a smile that surprised Lecter. “I think we should talk…Hannibal.”


	11. Farm AU

Hannibal had been up since before sunrise, had fed the chicken and collected the eggs, had taken care of the other animals he was keeping on his small farm and then had taken Ravenstag for a ride down to the creek, and had enjoyed the wind he felt on his face while galloping over the fields on the back of the beautiful black stallion that many of his neighbors had tried to buy from him. But the horse was more to him than just an animal, it was a friend and a reminder of a life that once had been a certainty to him.

He had checked the fences and then returned home to the house, finding the man he had spent the last night with standing on the porch, a mug with probably coffee in his hand. Hannibal brought Ravenstag into the barn and returned a few minutes later to find the other man still on the porch, now sitting on the stairs and giving Winston a thorough ear rub.

“You’re still here,” Hannibal said and found Will looking up with a surprised expression.

“Did you think I would leave without a goodbye?”

Hannibal pressed his lips together.

“Do you really think that?”

“I don’t know, Will,” he said and took the offered second mug from the younger man. “You said yesterday you would leave today.”

“That was before last night happened,” Will said, brows pulled together in a frown. “Did last night not mean anything to you?”

Hannibal swallowed and avoided to look at him, considering that this young man was just a help for the season, one of the workers he had hired to help with the farm while he needed help and who was to leave now that most of the work was done. Will had told him that he wanted to go to university, to have a better life than the one he knew. He had not expected to develop feelings for the young man, had not expected to feel this sting of pain at the knowledge he would leave today.

“I did,” he said, as calm as possible without giving away what he truly felt. “It meant a lot to me, but we both know that today is the day you would leave.”

Will stared at him for a long moment and then stood up, and for a moment, Hannibal thought he would just turn around and go, instead, he stood his ground and was facing Hannibal, standing close to him.

“I’ve fallen in love with you,” Will said. “If you want me to go, I go. If you want me to stay, I stay. But what I want is...I want to stay and I want you and this home.” He inched closer into Hannibal’s personal space. “What do you want?”

Hannibal stepped away and turned his back to Will, and Will knew this was goodbye, felt his heart break.

But then, Hannibal said, without turning back around: “I want you to stay.”


End file.
